The search for a better light bulb has been going on for more than a century. In recent years, the development of high-brightness LEDs has vastly improved the efficiency and reliability of light sources. However, the LED operates in a fundamentally different way than incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs. This means that LEDs generally are not connectable directly with existing lighting fixtures. Ballast circuits are used to make existing lighting fixtures operable with LEDs. Ballast circuitry is often complex and expensive, making LED lighting expensive to operate. Another drawback of current ballast circuits is that they do not work consistently with conventional phase modulated dimmer switches.